Careers in Bioengineering

What Can I Do With a Degree in Bioengineering?

Almost anything!

At all levels, bioengineering is an inherently interdisciplinary field, with room for students to specialize in their field of choice. Most of our graduates go on to successful careers in the biotech industry, within that field following their strengths into R&D, project management, quality control, regulatory affairs, business development, administration, and more.

The study of bioengineering gives our students proficiency in problem solving, data analysis and teamwork that are highly transferrable to other fields, including medical practice, law, business management, venture capital, education, other engineering fields, and consulting.

Bioengineering produces graduates with technical skills in areas like:

  • Device design and construction
  • Microfluidic, micro and nano-mechanical devices
  • Wet lab techniques, biochemistry
  • Cell and tissue characterization and control
  • Imaging systems, signal processing, image analysis
  • Computational modeling, simulation, machine learning
  • Data science, bioinformatics
  • Genetic engineering, CRISPR, genomic analysis

And outstanding "soft skills":

  • Collaboration
  • Teamwork
  • Empathy
  • Tolerance
  • Creativity
  • Leadership
  • Problem definition
  • Big-picture perspective
  • Commitment to improving health and the environment on a global scale

Some recent outcomes for our graduates:

Employers
  • 10x Genomics
  • Genentech
  • Novo Nordisk
  • Neuralink
  • Apple
  • Google
  • Upside Foods
  • BioTechne
  • Roche
  • ARPA-H
  • Gladstone Institutes
  • National Institute of Mental Health
  • Denali Therapeutics
  • Cepheid
  • Abbott
  • iRhythm
  • Ginkgo Bioworks
  • BioMarin Pharmaceuticals
  • GeneFab
  • Illumina
  • Merck
  • Cellares
  • California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
  • Kite Pharma
  • Altos Labs
Job Titles
Graduate Schools
Medical Schools

and so many more!

graph showing proportion of graduates responding to the career destinations survey who are working, going to school, looking for work, or other.The UC Berkeley First Destinations Survey polls seniors within a few months of their Bachelor's graduation. For the past 5 years, on average, 46% of graduates are already employed and 27% are accepted to graduate or medical school. An average of 40% of graduates not immediately going to graduate/medical school plan to do so within the next 5 years.